TextSearch

It has been often repeated that former AIPAC official Steve Rosen boasted to Jeffrey Goldberg that within 24 hours he could have the signatures of 70 U.S. senat

On Iran, the Israel Lobby May Lose - The American Conservative Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program Login Menu search Magazine Current Issue trending_flat Archives trending_flat Blogs State of the Union trending_flat American System trending_flat New Urbs trending_flat Rod Dreher Archive trending_flat Podcasts TAC Right Now trending_flat History Reconsidered trending_flat About About Us trending_flat Who We Are trending_flat Events trending_flat Programs trending_flat Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program Login Subscribe Today Become a member and enjoy the very best from The American Conservative in print & digital. Become a Member search Donate Become a Member Subscribe ✕ This is not a paywall... ...but it usually is! Thanks for reading The American Conservative. We rely on the generosity of our readers to provide original, independent reporting like you'll read here. You can be part of this effort by becoming a member for just $5/month today! Subscribe to Our Newsletter To continue reading, subscribe to our newsletter to receive the best of TAC in your inbox! Email Address: Already a member? Log in here.Or, click here to support The American Conservative by becoming a member. Foreign policy On Iran, the Israel Lobby May Lose It has been often repeated that former AIPAC official Steve Rosen boasted to Jeffrey Goldberg that within 24 hours he could have the signatures of 70 U.S. senators on a cocktail napkin. Such was the clout of the Israel lobby’s main congressional enforcement arm. But students of the lobby often wondered what would happen if […] Scott McConnell Jan 9, 2014 5:59 AM It has been often repeated that former AIPAC official Steve Rosen boasted to Jeffrey Goldberg that within 24 hours he could have the signatures of 70 U.S. senators on a cocktail napkin. Such was the clout of the Israel lobby’s main congressional enforcement arm. But students of the lobby often wondered what would happen if AIPAC faced an actual political contest. Its victories seemed almost too effortless, the Harlem Globetrotters versus the Washington Generals. The Israel lobby’s campaign to scuttle negotiations with Iran is not going easily. Yesterday, Jonathan Broder reported in Congressional Quarterly that “momentum for a new Iran sanctions bill appears to have stalled.” The bill in question is the Kirk-Mendendez-Schumer legislation, which imposes new sanctions on Iran and stipulates that the United States go to war on Israel’s side in the event Tel Aviv decides, for reasons of “self-defense,” that it needs to attack Iran. (As of this writing, the legislation has 51 co-sponsors and will surely acquire more, but Obama would obviously veto it, as would any President who wished to maintain some control over America’s foreign policy.) Meanwhile, Adam Kredo in the neoconservative Washington Free Beacon published a hit piece on Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, accusing her of stalling a companion negotiations scuttling bill in the House. The piece pointed out that Florida Jewish organizations were upset Schultz was not doing the Israel lobby’s bidding. Honestly no one would ever have expected Wasserman Schultz, an influential congresswoman who is often flamboyantly pro-Israel, to be AWOL when AIPAC wanted something done. She famously orchestrated the congressional standing ovations when Netanyahu spoke before Congress in 2011. And yet here she is, at least thus far standing quietly in the corner of Obama and the American diplomats who know anything about the issue, to the chagrin of those who want an American war with Iran. Like no previous issue, the Iran question is forcing the American Jewish political establishment to choose between its often reflexive and unquestioning backing of Israel’s hawkish positions and its own professedly liberal political values—which in this case militate towards testing whether negotiation is better than bombing. Schumer lines up with Netanyahu. Wasserman Schultz may well support Obama. Sprinkled throughout the Senate are veteran Jewish lawmakers who have already made it clear that they want to give the administration every possible chance to forge a nuclear deal, and possibly someday a detente, with Iran. I can’t imagine that these choices between competing impulses and allegiances are easy, and I hope there is a novelist (probably but not necessarily Jewish) who can work them into a period-defining novel. On the merits of the issue too, everything is suddenly in play. The rise of Sunni jihadists in Syria and their reemergence in Iraq underscores what to some has long been obvious: objectively the United States has more grounds for cooperation with Iran (and Turkey) than with a backward looking Wahabi sheikdom. The Israel Project is frantically sending around worried reports about the rush of international businessmen to Tehran. Let it be a flood. The stories unintentionally underscore one of the Obama administration’s main talking points: there is no chance to hold together a coalition of international sanctions if the administration refuses to take the outstretched hand of an Iranian president. Yes it is conceivable, perhaps even fifty-fifty, that AIPAC and Netanyahu will prevail in the Senate in the next few weeks, and that Obama’s diplomacy with Tehran will be effectively collapsed. But China, Russia, Germany, Britain, and France will not fall back in line to implement a tougher AIPAC orchestrated sanctions regime. This week, two former British cabinet ministers lead a delegation of British lawmakers to Tehran, a small step but symbolically significant. Are they going to sign up for Netanyahu’s war train? Not likely. And if not Britain, who? China? Russia? India? Japan? What the Israel lobby envisions is America alone, its only ally a gallant little Israel, fighting Mideast wars in perpetuity to maintain Israel’s nuclear monopoly. It could happen, but it probably won’t. Advertisement Advertisement About The Author Scott McConnell Scott McConnell is a founding editor of The American Conservative and the author of Ex-Neocon: Dispatches From the Post-9/11 Ideological Wars. Follow him on Twitter at @ScottMcConnell9. Articles by Scott trending_flat Comments Become a Member today for a growing stake in the conservative movement. Join here! Join here More like this ISIS, the Neocons, and Obama’s Choices Scott McConnell August 27, 2014 Though Congress and the president are out of town, the final weeks of August have seen the arrival of an unexpectedly critical moment. The… How to Defeat the Islamic State Patrick J. Buchanan August 26, 2014 Bring the full force of their enemies in the region to bear, and ISIS will fall. Congress Must Vote Before Iraq War III Patrick J. Buchanan August 15, 2014 Last week, we were told there were 40,000 Yazidis on Sinjar Mountain facing starvation if they remained there, and slaughter by ISIS if they came… The American Ideas Institute is a nonprofit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, D.C. Blogs Rod Dreher State of the Union Categories Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Media Podcasts Events Videos About Our History Our Writers Contact Us Join Subscribe Donate Hiring Info FAQs Customer Service Advertise Comments Policy © 2022 The American Conservative, a publication of The American Ideas Institute. Advertising Guidelines Privacy Policy close Advertisement Advertisement